How about them All Blacks eh?

Rugby's always a good topic when you're wanting to avoid other things isn't it?

So I thought I would look ahead to the World Cup and predict some upsets etc.

Pool A - in theory England and South Africa should finish on top, but I have a feeling Samoa could throw the proverbial cat amongst the pidgeons by beating England.

Poll B - Australia and Wales should qualify for the quarters, but who finishes first could be interesting - on current form my money would be on Wales.

Pool C - New Zealand will win easily. But Scotland v Italy could be interesting, historically you would have to back the Scots, but Italy did beat them earlier this year.

Pool D - The closest pool, and a pool that could fuck everything up properly for the hosts. France, Argentina and Ireland. On paper you would say Ireland and France, but bear in mind Argentina are ranked ahead of England now, and have beaten both teams in the last year. Could very well be any combination of the three. One of the three should have been in Pool C.

So say Italy qualify from C, England get up against Samoa, Wales beat Australia and Ireland and France go 1 and 2 in D the quarter finals will be...

Wales v England (or Samoa)
New Zealand v France
South Africa v Australia
Ireland v Italy

Lets say England keep it up and stumble to victory over Wales. NZ should beat France, South Africa should win, as should Ireland so it will be

England v New Zealand
South Africa v Ireland

So in theory a New Zealand v South Africa final. Which are the best teams at the moment. Simple.

I guess this also shows the potential implications for losses by Australia and England in the early rounds as that will determine who NZ plays later on (assuming we keep winning).